David

Inspiration is for amateurs. The great writer Somerset Maugham once said something to the tune of “I write only when inspiration strikes… fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” As much as I try to ape old mechanical Maugham, I’m still very much an amateur and need inspiration to get kick me along, though I do follow the spirit of his advice. A hard slog to a glowing achievement I finished my first book – Redgate – last…

I was bored. Down. Lonely. Aimless. 26 years old and in a cul-de-sac at work, in life, at home. I craved adventure, change, excitement; and most of all I wanted that elusive thing – happiness. So I did what everyone who gets the “quarter-life crisis” does. I bought a backpack and a ticket to South-East Asia for an invigorating dose of travel. And I loved it. From sipping condensed milk sweetened Vietnamese coffee in the crowded colonial streets of Hanoi…

I’m at TBEX – one of the largest travel blogging conferences in the world – and this year the main theme of the event in Cancun, Mexico is ‘professionalism.’ I settle back into my seat and smile. ‘This should be good,’ I think and smile. Tell people that you blog professionally and you often get raised eyebrows that either mean ‘that’s a job?’ or ‘you can’t be serious, my aunty blogs about cupcakes, that’s not a job.’ Rewind the tape…

I just had a classic day. I got up at 6am (ouch!) and did a workout on the rooftop terrace of my hostel in Cartagena, Colombia. As the sun rose and my sweat patches expanded I got an amazing view of the sun rise over the old Spanish fort that guards the city’s harbour. After breakfast and a shower I went back up to the terrace, plugged in my laptop and started work. A 30 second commute from my room…

There’s a great scene in the latest James Bond film Skyfall where the titular hero breaks out a cut-throat razor to shave himself with before taking on the baddies. That is a serious bit of old school kit; something only the most skillful and quite old fashioned gent would tackle the daily chore of shaving with. I found it very appealing and a week later I booked myself in to a London barbers for a cut-throat shave and thoroughly enjoyed…

A typical business video goes a little something like this: Opening sequence of quick shots establishing the company and its products. Voice over begins explaining the company’s ethos. Cut to excerpt of interview with CEO. More shots of products, offices and employees as voice over continues. End. Short, sharp, to the point and very, very safe. Most corporate videos are as predictable as the weather in Los Angeles. And they are supposed to be. A video is a great way…